Of Memories & Learning Something New

Repairing memories isn't easy.

While it's true that most memories aren't really gone forever, putting them back together is a tricky thing. Even without complications the process of joining this piece to that piece is difficult, especially as the edges of each recollection wear down. Riku must wrangle with the fact that some truly have been deleted, whilst others are incomplete—temporary files from another time that must be fished out of the digital aether. Sora can repair some of them himself as they talk about things, but others will remain half-done, fragmented, things he can be told about but never truly know.

Riku doesn't mind too much. It makes him sad that Sora can't remember all their time together, but at least they have more ahead. The data that makes up Jiminy's Journal is filled with plenty of people to visit and worlds to enjoy. Without bugs to contend with, they only have the occasional digital villain inserting trouble into their daily routines.

The routines themselves aren't so much an issue. Although Riku has some knowledge of everything that lies within the confines of the Journal's datascape, and his material self oft suffered from frustration and boredom, he finds there's something new to appreciate every time he and Sora go exploring. Perhaps picking through Sora's memories taught him to appreciate the little things. Perhaps he's developed into his own person based on the lessons he's learned. Perhaps it's simply that Riku never got to enjoy the worlds the way Sora did, or perhaps knowing a little of everything is not the same as knowing a lot of it.

Always something new to see, if you look for it.

Sometimes Riku gets caught up watching Sora. He loves everyone so much, loves introducing them to Riku and celebrating the days spent together. Riku knows all the people inside the datascape, of course, but not in the same way Sora does. Riku has a deep understanding of the data world's mechanics—far beyond anything Sora ever will. Yet Sora knows hearts, and despite what they say about data, Sora seems to find the heart inside every world, every person. In theory it should be impossible, but Sora never cared much for theory.

Good. It's worth remembering things in practice are always more complicated, and the worlds and people he sees are far more charming than anything I could conjure.

It's more than that though. Sora digs deep into all their data and shows them what they're capable of doing, feeling, being. Donald and Goofy and Mickey were all people of the material world, and yet each of them put themselves in danger for the sake of Sora, Riku, and their datascape. None of them cared that their 'real' friends were safe, that everyone within the confines of this realm was just a series of ones and zeroes. Sora showed them that there was a depth to their data that could not be denied.

Somehow we have hearts, and they could see that. Even if they'd never noticed it in Riku, it would be impossible to miss the way Sora's shines. Riku doesn't doubt the other Sora is lovely, but this Sora is too. Neither could replace the other, if their friends' actions are anything to go by. The other Sora certainly couldn't replace his data counterpart for Riku. And I'm sure the other Riku feels the same.

Hearts and memories are such complicated things. 

Once Riku has helped Sora reclaim as many of the memories of their adventures as he can, his focus turns to making new ones. They're not busy for the moment, so there's plenty of time for new experiences without worries regarding Kingdom Hearts or deletion hanging over their heads. He's excited thinking of how many more adventures they can go on, once the latest of Jiminy's Journals is uploaded into his care. His body anticipates it; knowledge, waiting to be poured into him and shared with the entire datascape.

I'll keep it safe, he thinks, while Sora delves deep and finds its heart.

For now though, he's content making new memories while enjoying old worlds. He's also busy ensuring the health of the other two inhabitants of their universe that know they're data. Riku works with Sora to make sure the Roxas and Naminé of this world are preserved. Reaching out to Roxas is a difficult task, but worthwhile. He and Sora get along well when the focus of their conversations isn't 'hurt'.

Naminé is harder. She's already half-succeeded in deleting herself by the time Riku finds her. Still, he catches the pieces of her before they're erased and puts them back together with care. She and Roxas are both people too, after all, and the datascape has room for all of them. They've evolved beyond mere programs made for someone else's purposes.

From there Riku works hard with what he's given to ensure they all have a good time. He expects them all to respect 'world order', although in the case of this place that means not informing the denizens they're made of data. If they must find it out, they can do so naturally, and I'll go and speak to them then. Beyond that, he makes sure they have convenient gates to get them between worlds, and creates new things for them to enjoy based on all the knowledge stored within him and what imagination he has. He builds them clothes appropriate for island weather and ensures the beach is prepared for their summer vacation.

The four of them celebrate, alongside Wakka and Tidus and Selphie, and all other inhabitants of the world recorded therein. Naminé and Roxas play, competing with the others at beach ball and racing and swimming games, rowing around the island and trekking through the trees. Sora and Riku join them, Riku taking the time to enjoy the minutiae while Sora climbs into canopies and dives into pools.

When they need a break they go down to the beach, where Naminé draws and Roxas naps in the sun. They're surrounded by cracked-open coconuts, other fruit scraps littering the sand until Riku comes by and recycles their data. There's always something for him and Sora to laugh about when they walk past, whether it's the obvious tan lines Roxas is developing or Naminé setting shells on his chest so she has a reference when she starts doodling him with a coconut bra.

"He's cute, isn't he?" She says, then shows them her sketches of Roxas, Sora, Riku himself, and all their other friends. Her drawings seem different now, capturing the sweetness of summer rather than the faded quality of her past life, ephemeral and uncanny as it was. She smiles when she closes her book, sundress and straw hat catching in the breeze. "I'm just glad the only things that'll hurt Roxas now are his sunburn and my art."

Riku and Sora laugh at that then leave, waving as they wander down the beach. Riku leads and Sora follows, the two walking along the island paths. It's lovely—the datascape at peace—but what's lovelier still is when Sora reaches out and takes Riku's hand, palm warm and a little coarse—perfect. He gleams in the light of their digital sun, radiant.

"You're radiant," Riku says. It just slips out, but he doesn't regret it. Maybe the other Riku wouldn't be able to say it—too shy, too scared to risk a friendship, too frightened to show his heart. Riku can understand that, he really can.

But the Riku of the datascape isn't the same as the Riku of the material world. His heart of data was always different and each new experience only changes him more. He understands some of the other Riku's history, but it doesn't bind him. He's more open, less afraid, and the moment Sora smiles, big, bright, and toothy, he knows he can only keep moving forward. He's his own person and so is his Sora, and the memories they make together shape them every day.

He grins and Sora keeps on smiling, cocks his head to the side.

"What's radiant mean?"

Riku laughs and doesn't stop for a good ten minutes.

When he does he explains the word, along with other words like bright and beautiful and kind. He goes over adventurous and playful and heroic too, even though he's sure Sora already understands those ones. Still Sora listens, lets him chatter away until a cloud passes briefly over the sun. Then, in that moment of privacy, he pulls him close and asks, "What does love mean?"

And for just a second Riku thinks he'll have to tell him. His cheeks go pink and his heart thunders—then he sees Sora's grin, coy in a way Riku thought he couldn't be, and then there are lips against his, warm and wet and just a little chapped.

When he pulls back Riku exhales. "I think," he says, "that's one kind of love."

"I like it," Sora says. "I like all kinds of love though. I think they're neat."

Riku laughs again. They really are different; neither bound by easily flustered personalities or a fear of showing true affection. Memories and more memories build them into someone new, separate from the clumsy consciousnesses of their counterparts. 

Maybe they could learn a little something from us, he thinks.

That thought lingers alongside radiant as he and Sora walk back down the beach to their friends, hand in hand and as happy as can be.

 

---

 

"Is that you, Riku?"

"It's me!"

"Well, come on in! I'm glad you could make it!" 

Riku opens the door to Disney Castle's library, stepping inside with a smile. He takes in the familiar shelves and curving architecture, pauses when he notices the room proper. There's bits and bobs all over the floor, junk absolutely everywhere, and technological mysteries spilling off the computer desk. Mickey himself is sitting square in front of the enormous monitor, tinkering away.

"You called for me, Mickey?"

"I sure did, Riku!" He exclaims, but doesn't look up. Riku doesn't mind. His voice alone conveys his pleasure to see him. "Come right on over, though watch the mess! I wouldn't want you to get hurt. I'm just putting the final touches on—ha ha, that does it!"

Riku's careful as he approaches, as much because he doesn't want to damage Mickey's work as because he doesn't want to get hurt himself. It looks like most of the stuff on the floor is discarded though, rejected prototypes and scrap parts that piled up as Mickey worked away. He's surprised Chip and Dale aren't here helping out, though last he heard they were working on new parts for the Gummi Ship. He guesses this would've gone faster—and less messily—if the King hadn't been left to his own devices, but everyone's busy and he can't blame them for that.

As it is it looks like he's been successful, not that Riku's surprised. Mickey's work is laid out on the table—a series of small, egg-shaped computers in different sizes, colors, and patterns, each attached to a lanyard.

"What are these?" He asks.

"These," Mickey says, "are for your new digital buddies, the ones I mentioned to you in my last letter. I worked with them a while back, just after you defeated Organization XIII for the first time! They're the ones that helped us solve the mystery of Jiminy's Journal."

"The people from the datascape?"

"The very same!" Mickey pauses for a moment, adjusting something. "We were thinking of updating that soon, adding in all the contents of the latest Jiminy's Journals, but before that I figured it'd be nice if we made 'em something to keep them connected to us. I know we could just make an app for the Gummiphone, but I thought these had their own charm. Besides, everyone deserves their own special body! Or house, I suppose?"

"Body's just a house for a heart," Riku says and Mickey chuckles. Riku gets it though. He's spent enough time with people who never had their own bodies, people fighting for the right to exist. He's seen and known the agony of feeling like you don't deserve one, that you don't deserve to be. He knows what it's like to be cast out of his own, thanks to Ansem, and he knows what it's like to be the bad guy in the fight for one. But I'll never regret fighting for Sora, even if I wished things could be different. I'm just glad it turned out alright in the end.

He pushes aside those difficult thoughts and moves to get a better look at the eggs. "So these are for the data versions of Sora and I?"

"And Roxas and Naminé," Mickey replies. "They're the only ones aware of their existence as digital entities. The others are all happy and content living out their lives in the datascape and we have no plans to disturb them anymore than we have to."

"Makes sense," Riku murmurs. "And this is us?" He asks, curious enough to take a proper look at the screen. There's no way of knowing what sort of person his data self has become, although he suspects if Mickey gets along with him then he's a good sort. He wonders though, how someone like him grows and changes when they live under such different circumstances, experienced such different things from him and the two Riku Replicas. 

Like, yet unlike. What have you learned, Data Riku, that makes you different from me—beyond just being a separate entity?

For all he is prepared for difference though, the sight that greets him when he peers at the screen over Mickey's tinkering head has him gasping, cheeks glowing red.

"M—Mickey, what—what are they—"

Hm? Oh!" Mickey looks up from his work to see what Riku has; the data versions of Sora and Riku holding hands and kissing, sitting on their paopu tree. He laughs. "Ha ha! I guess I never told you about that, huh?"

"No, ah, you never—never mentioned they were—"

Something inside Riku spins out of control, heart thundering, rattling every bone in his body. He can't look, but he can't look away either. His eyes stay riveted, only half focused. It's so painfully intimate, yet neither the Sora nor Riku of the data world seem bothered by their public displays of affection. They kiss in ways Riku doesn't dare dream, in ways he can't imagine Sora wanting, not with him. He—

Thoughts cease. Mickey's warm hand wraps around his, just comfort, and the storm in his chest abruptly ceases. There's a moment of silence before Mickey says, "Riku, are you okay?"

"I—I guess," Riku clears his throat. "I mean yes, I am, it's just...just not what I was expecting to see. It surprised me."

He knows Mickey doesn't believe him. There's something in his eyes; not judging, just skeptical. "Alright. That's okay. It's a pretty surprising thing, to see someone that looks like you doing something you wouldn't! I suppose it's an important reminder that while these data people share your appearance, they aren't you. They'll keep growing in their own way, taking a different path. But of course," Mickey laughs, "these two are honest with themselves, unlike someone I know."

It takes a moment. "Wait, what? Mickey!" His cheeks burn, a furious red that must look ridiculous. There's no anger in him though. His stomach is doing too many flips, heart too many beats per minute.

Mickey shakes his head, still laughing. "Riku," he says, and presses the tiny computer into his hand, "you've taught me a lot of things in our time together, about darkness, light, and friendship. You taught me there's always more to learn and that you can discover something new in places and people you least expect. You've shown me so much and I'll always be grateful for that. I'll always hope that I've given even a little back of what you've given me."

"M—Mickey," Riku stutters, suddenly taken by the urge to hug his friend. He's not a very physical person, but he's warm inside, moved by his words. Mickey silences him with a wave of his hand, the tiny computer now sitting comfortably in Riku's.

"Now I want you to carry on as you always have. I want you to teach this Riku, and maybe, just maybe Riku, he can teach you something too. Sounds good, right? Ha ha!"

Riku wants to protest, but the words are stuck in his throat. Mickey doesn't tease him for it, just smiles and squeezes his hand. He spares him then, settling in to explain how the tiny computers work. Apparently they're each connected to an individual data person, who can invite other data beings inside, and go between the main Journal datascape, their egg, and other datascapes at will and—

He goes on and on, but all Riku hears is buzzing. His head is static as he stares at the screen. Data Riku is still kissing Data Sora; on his cheeks, on his nose, on his lips. Data Sora kisses him back. They laugh, slipping off their tree and wandering down the beach, waving to their friends as they walk hand in hand. Naminé is lounging and sipping a drink while Roxas sleeps. Is he wearing a coconut bra? But that question fades, unimportant as Sora and Riku sit down on the shore with their friends and start canoodling once more.

It seems almost too intimate, and Riku shoots a glance at Mickey. Did you put them up to this? He could believe it, believe that Mickey might ask them to be a little more personal while Riku was around. He doesn't doubt the two are close anyway, doesn't doubt they're together but...

You know how I feel about him, don't you Mickey? I guess you really want to give something back, even if I never thought you had to.

Riku sighs. He can't be mad. Looking from the screen to the egg in his hand, he feels what Mickey says is likely true.

Maybe he really can teach me something new. 

With that in mind, he settles in beside his friend and king and gets to work, checking storage drives and circuitry and sticks of RAM. Everything has to be just right for their new friends after all, to keep them safe as they journey together toward new lessons, new experiences, and new memories.